pervert the course of justice
idiom
British
: to try to stop the police from learning the facts about a criminal case
She was convicted of perverting the course of justice for lying to the police.
Examples of pervert the course of justice in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Two people — yacht rental agent Lam Shun, 44, and Irene Pun Hau-yin, 31 — were convicted on June 17 in Kowloon City Court of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for their role in arranging the escape, according to the South China Morning Post and The Standard.
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Christina Coulter, People.com, 22 June 2025
Brooks was acquitted in 2013 of the charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and her lawyers managed to persuade the court that she hadn’t been actively involved in the hacking of people’s phones.
—Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 28 Apr. 2023
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Christina Coulter, People.com, 22 June 2025
Brooks was acquitted in 2013 of the charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and her lawyers managed to persuade the court that she hadn’t been actively involved in the hacking of people’s phones.
—Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 28 Apr. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Pervert the course of justice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pervert%20the%20course%20of%20justice. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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